Author Archives: dcaligari

Every year, Christmas decorating sends nearly 15,000 people to the ER. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 14,700 people visit hospital emergency rooms each November and December from holiday-related decorating accidents. So please, be careful when you’re putting up the holly and the ivy.

It been 40 years since Do They Know It’s Christmas, the charity single by the all-star group Band Aid, was released. As of the last check, The Band Aid/ Live Aid initiatives have raised over $250 million dollars. Not bad for basically a very crappy tune.

December 10, 1955 –The Mighty Mouse Playhouse began a long-standing ‘Saturday Morning Cartoon’ tradition on CBS-TV, on this date. Terrytoons Studios produced 80 theatrical Mighty Mouse cartoons between 1942 to 1961, which were shown on this cartoon TV series on Saturday mornings. Each episode contained three Mighty Mousetheatrical cartoons and a one-shot one (especially withContinue reading “The first time he came to save the day (on TV)”

December 10, 1982 –A paean to B movies, It Came from Hollywood, opened in the US on this date. (Do yourself a favor; find some time today to watch the whole film if you haven’t seen it.) Sadly this was never released on DVD. Paramount had planned to release the film on DVD in 2002.Continue reading “It Came from Hollywood premiered”

December 10, 1974 –Another Rankin/Bass animated holiday special The Year Without A Santa Claus first aired on ABC-TV on this date. Another Rankin/Bass animated holiday special The Year Without A Santa Claus premiered on ABC-TV on this date. The names of the reindeer are consistent with the Clement Moore poem and other sources. Vixen isContinue reading “The Year Without A Santa Claus premiered”

Today is Suspended Coffee Day (Caffe Sospeso). Many Coffee shops around the world are reviving an old Neapolitan custom, which involves paying it forward with coffee. A customer orders one cup but pays the barista for two. This second cup – the “suspended coffee” – is served for free to someone who is down onContinue reading “Good ideas start with great coffee”

December 9, 1989 –Billy Joel’s history lesson, We Didn’t Start the Fire hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date. Joel wrote the lyrics first, which he rarely does. He says that is why the song has no melody. Joel told Billboard magazine: “It’s terrible musically. It’s like a mosquito buzzing around yourContinue reading “If you didn’t, who did?”

December 9, 1947 –An oft forgotten holiday classic, The Bishop’s Wife, starring Cary Grant, David Nivens, and Loretta Young opened in NYC on this date. Originally Cary Grant played the bishop and David Niven the angel. When original director William A. Seiter left the film, Henry Koster replaced him and viewed what had been shotContinue reading “The Bishop’s Wife premiered”

December 9, 1965 –A pre-teen drama about the bi-polar kid and his wacky friends first experiences of the depressive nature of the holiday season premiered on this date – A Charlie Brown Christmas broke many of the rules prevalent for animated holiday specials during the 1960s: it didn’t make use of a laugh track; realContinue reading “… Sleigh bell in the air …”

December 9, 1960 – The world’s longest running soap opera, Coronation Street, got it’s start on this date, airing on ITV in England. The program was broadcast live on that date. The series chronicles the lives of the residents of a backstreet terrace in Weatherfield, a fictional town in the north of England. William RoacheContinue reading “Coronation Street premiered”